UK
The urgent case for expanding Free School Meals – Daniel Kebede, NEU
Daniel Kebede, National Education Union General Secretary
By Daniel Kebede, National Education Union (NEU)
Let’s start with a simple premise: poverty limits children’s futures. It holds children back in school and cuts off their potential at the very start of their lives. Food poverty embeds issues of class inequality and social isolation in school.
If we accept all of that, then why are we falling so far short of addressing poverty in this country?
According to Child Poverty Action Group, in every class of 30 there will be 9 pupils who are living in poverty. And after fourteen years of Conservative rule, we now have hundreds of thousands more children growing up trapped in poverty.
The latest TUC analysis shows that the number of children growing up in poverty in working households increased by 44% between 2010 and 2023. That’s a jump of 900,000.
And why is it that we accept hunger? Children attending school are unable to concentrate due to hunger. Fatigue like this is not conducive to good learning. It is also demoralising for pupils.
A majority of children can take for granted a healthy, hot school dinner, but this is not an automatic entitlement for all.
The current means tested approach is failing families. For most children in England, the eligibility criteria for free school meals require them to live in a household that is in receipt of universal credit and has a total annual income (before benefits) below £7,400.
£7,400. That is astonishing.
That number is regardless of how many earners or children are in the household. Worse still, that number has not changed since it was introduced in 2018, meaning the threshold has harshened through inflation.
Even for those who meet the criteria, the onus is on families to work this out for themselves. Families, with salaries below £7,400, often face barriers of technology, language and stigma. Sometimes they are not even aware of eligibility.
The end result is that one in three children living in poverty in England are considered “too well off” to have a free school meal. An estimated further 200,000 children meet the criteria but are not getting the meals they are entitled to. As they enter the classroom each day, these children, already some of the most vulnerable, now have the added hurdle of an empty stomach.
Creating divides between children based on measures of their families’ wealth undermines the notion of a comprehensive education system. All the associated challenges – children missing out, teachers plugging gaps, families unable to get support – are a result of means testing. Ultimately, it isn’t fair.
With the cost of living hitting family budgets, and hitting school budgets too, it is high time for a rethink on free school meals. We need a plan which provides a true leveller for all.
That is why the NEU has been campaigning for Free School Meals for all primary-aged children.
It is why we support Mayor Sadiq Khan’s initiative in London since 2022 to do just that. In 2020, Scotland pledged to provide free healthy dinners for every child in primary school. In 2021, Wales promised children the same.
And why wouldn’t we support that? It makes sense for health, for education, and for a better society.
But children in the rest of England are still waiting and this makes no sense.
Don’t believe me? Then listen to teachers and support staff. In our annual State of Education survey, NEU members told us that the best solutions they would like to see from Government to properly respond to the rising levels of child poverty are things they are so far not doing. 89% called for a strengthening of rules to ensure school uniforms are affordable, 78% a dedicated technology budget to combat the digital divide, while 79% believed that free school meals for all children who attend primary schools in England and Wales would go some way towards helping.
Strikingly, this last statistic rises to 87% among members working in the areas of England with the highest levels of deprivation.
They should know.
And if you don’t want to take our word for it, then ask parents. When our No Child Left Behind campaign commissioned a poll from Survation back in February, a staggering 88% of parents and carers outside of London said they would like to see universal Free School Meals extended to all primary school children in England. Two thirds (66%) supported this ‘strongly’.
Better still, ask children. Half of the London children in Years 4-6 polled by Survation – and beneficiaries of Mayor Khan’s initiative – said that universal FSM meant they and their classmates now had better concentration during lessons. A quarter said they can now eat and be together at lunchtime.
The last government trial investigating the impact of providing universal free school meals, as opposed to means tested school meals, found that pupils on the universal scheme made four to eight weeks’ additional academic progress compared to their peers.
And it doesn’t only make educational sense. It makes economic sense too. The respected accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that for every £1 invested in universal free school meals, the economy would make back £1.71. The Government point to the need for a strong economy, but we won’t see a strong economy until we start to invest in our children.
It is a heartless Government that would choose to ignore these voices, and the clear benefits to children and their learning, from universal meals. In his most recent Autumn Statement and Spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt did next to nothing for schools.
Expanding free school meals is a no brainer. If the next Government truly believes in the wellbeing and potential of all young people, as teachers do, then they will make it happen.
- Daniel Kebede is the General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU).
- You can follow Daniel on Twitter/X here; and follow the NEU on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
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Starmer faces “emergency” of underfunded fire service
Matt Wrack
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) says that the UK is “dangerously underprepared” for responding to fires, floods and extreme weather events, and has called on Keir Starmer to rapidly invest in the fire and rescue service when he enters Number 10.
The Fire Brigades Union has warned that responses to national emergencies and major incidents including wildfires, heatwaves, and flooding have been impeded by a lack of resilience over the past two years.
The Firefighters’ Manifesto sets out the FBU’s vision for the future of the fire service. It advocates investment to address a crisis caused by a lack of resources, deregulation and cuts. Firefighters are calling on all parliamentary candidates to pledge their support for the manifesto.
Across the UK, 1 in 5 firefighter jobs have been cut since 2010. 82 fire stations and 17 control rooms have been closed down.
Fire and rescue services frequently fail to meet their own targets for fire cover. The average response time for fire brigades to arrive at the scene has risen to a record nine minutes and 12 seconds across England. This is an increase of more than a minute across the last 10 years.
Several fire and rescue services across the UK have adopted a new policy of sending firefighters out in crews of three instead of the minimum of five firefighters needed to respond to incidents where lives are at risk. They are forced to wait for additional crews to arrive before tackling a serious incident, wasting crucial time needed to save lives.
On 19 July 2022, as temperatures soared, the London Fire Brigade had its busiest day since the Second World War and ran out of fire engines to respond to incidents. But 39 fire engines sad idle in fire stations because there were not enough firefighters to crew them.
In the wake of flooding caused by Storm Babet in October 2023, a record 72 calls went unanswered or were deferred in Northamptonshire alone as resources ran out.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary said:
“When Keir Starmer enters 10 Downing Street, the crisis in the fire and rescue service will be one of the most important things in his in-tray.”
“The UK is dangerously underprepared and under-resourced when it comes to keeping communities safe from fires, floods and other disasters. To turn things around, we will need significant investment.”
“Under the Tories, 1 in 5 firefighter jobs have been cut, as has 30% of central government funding. This has led to the worst response times in history, and a hollowing out of national resilience.”
“Firefighters are regularly pushed beyond safe limits. Every day, public safety is put at risk because of a lack of resourcing.”
The incoming government must face the emergency.”
- This article originally appeared on the FBU website on 25 June 2024
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